Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The FCC has launched an official investigation into Verizon’s nationwide outage.
- Regulators want specific, detailed accounts of failed calls, text issues, 911 access, and business impact from the public.
- You can submit your report until March 16, 2026.
If you saw an SOS icon instead of your usual 5G bars last Wednesday, you probably felt cut off from the digital world. Verizon has since fixed the problem and restored service, but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is now starting its own probe. Regulators have officially launched an investigation into the 10-hour blackout that sidelined millions of customers and, more critically, potentially blocked access to 911.
On the afternoon of January 14, Verizon’s wireless voice, text, and data services failed for users across the country. Outage reports quickly rose on trackers like Downdetector, reaching hundreds of thousands in just a few hours. Many customers saw only the SOS icon instead of signal bars, which meant they could still call emergency services, but regular calls and data did not work.
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This week, the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau officially opened a case and is asking the public, businesses, and government agencies to share their experiences with the outage.
The FCC wants more than just information about how long people were offline. They are asking for details, such as whether you could make or receive calls, if texts worked, if 911 was available, and how businesses and emergency services managed during the outage.
The comment period is open until March 16, 2026. Regulators want real stories instead of general complaints, as they are trying to understand how the outage affected public safety and communications systems. You can send your story to [email protected].
Verizon admitted the problem on its social media and said engineers were working to fix it. By late evening, the company said the network was mostly back to normal and apologized to customers. To make up for the outage, Verizon offered a $20 service credit to affected accounts. Some business owners, though, said they received up to $200 after explaining how the outage hurt their revenue.
While Verizon has been predictably tight-lipped, citing only a software issue, experts point to a potential failure in the 5G Standalone (SA) core. Essentially, as networks move away from physical hardware to cloud-based software, a single bad line of code can trigger a nationwide collapse.
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